Vyacheslav Ponomarev

Vyacheslav Vladimirovich Ponomarev (2 May 1965-) was the Mayor of Sloviansk under the Donetsk People's Republic from 14 April 2014 to 10 June 2014, preceding Volodymyr Pavlenko.

Biography
Vyacheslav Vladimirovich Ponomarev was born on 2 May 1965, and he became a fighter for the pro-Russia militants during the early stages of the Ukrainian Civil War. Ponomarev declared himself Mayor of Sloviansk after storming the mayor's office on 14 April 2014, and he took command of 2,500 troops in the vicinity of Sloviansk afterwards. He was loyal to the new Donetsk People's Republic, and fought the "Nazis" and "homosexuals" of the government of Ukraine. On 20 April 2014, he supervised the kidnapping of VICE News correspondent Simon Ostrovsky, and had him beaten and intimidated. Under pressure from the United States Department of Defense, he was forced to release Ostrovsky. On 10 June 2014, he was arrested by Igor Girkin of the Donbass People's Militia and on 5 July he left Sloviansk, leaving Volodymyr Pavlenko as the new mayor.